Opinion
It's up to the woman if a pregnancy creates 1 patient or 2
LETTER — Posted May 5, 2008
Regarding "Physician's duty to unborn patient precludes an abortion referral" (Letters, March 3): In her letter to the editor regarding abortion, Jeannette P. Spreng, MD, Brunswick, Ohio, writes that abortion "carries a 50% mortality rate."
While it is appropriate to view a pregnant woman as analogous to "two patients" in certain circumstances, this analogy is applicable only so long as the woman in question chooses to continue the pregnancy. A physician is not beholden to the fetus apart from the wishes of the pregnant woman involved. The moment that a woman chooses to terminate a pregnancy the physician has only "one patient."
Amesh Adalja, MD, Butler, Pa.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/05/05/edlt0505.htm.
